Affected Residents Tend To See Putra Heights Gas Pipeline Tragedy As A Waiting To Happen Man Made Disaster

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AS residents attributed the devastating PETRONAS gas pipeline explosion on the second day of Hari Raya (April 1) to “reckless road digging works by contractors”, a political watchdog has described the incident as “a man/(authority/ies)-made disaster waiting to happen”.
“The first thing that comes to mind is who are the idiotic authorities that approved the Putra Heights housing project in such a high-risk fire area?” fumed Victor Lim in his No News Is Bad News blog.

“And, now that a disaster has happened, will PETRONAS and the government bear responsibility and accountability by making full compensation as demanded by the victims and their families? It’s going to be costly!”
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussien Omar Khan said 364 victims from 74 families were affected by the fire at Jalan Putra Harmoni which saw flames reaching over 100 feet (30 metres) high and temperatures soaring to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Thankfully, no fatalities have been reported in the incident said to have occurred around 8.10am yesterday (April 1).
According to the Health Ministry (MOH), a total of 100 victims were receiving treatment at several hospitals across the Klang Valley as of 6pm yesterday, including 14 at Hospital Putrajaya; Hospital Sultan Idris Shah, Serdang (28 patients); Hospital Cyberjaya (25), Hospital Ampang (one) and Hospital Kajang (two).
The Putra Heights Gas Pipe disaster is going to open many big cans of worms!Harap ada pencerahan drp : @SJcitycouncil , Petronas, Sime Darby,Contractors yg kerja pd hari kejadian,@JBPM_official ! Ini harus bermula dgn Garis Panduan Pembangunan.The Dos and Don’ts of a Development pic.twitter.com/J3uGmIdlS1
— Ir.Kumar (@skumar176) April 1, 2025

As at 6.50pm, the’ Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia reported that the fire has damaged 237 homes, scorched 365 vehicles with 305 people having suffered burn and inhalation injuries.
Supporting Victor Lim notion of man-made element in the fire disaster is Putra Heights resident Neutron (@BazilMazlan) who attributed the incident to “digging works by a road contractor who accidentally hit gas pipeline in the vicinity”.
FYI, I stay here. X de kena mengena dengan stesen minyak petronas. Ada contractor korek jalan, trlanggar pipe gas, pecah, meletup and terus trbakar. Dah few days korek jalan situ. pic.twitter.com/oVKXnxrvOw
— Neutron (@BazilMazlan) April 1, 2025

“They’ve been digging there for a few days,” revealed the netizen in a post on X which has already garnered 2M views at the time of writing.
He further displayed warning signages of underground pipelines from Google Map which a somehow knowledgeable commenter reckoned that the onus is on the contractor to further appoint a licensed surveyor to do utility detection and mapping for validity.

Another netizen shared an online source citing affected residents as having voiced their concern over road works in their neighbourhood since Dec 17 last year.
According to the source, digging works using backhoe had proceeded even during the first day of Hari Raya (March 31).
Isu letupan PETRONAS di Putra Heights. Dari 17 Dec lagi penduduk dah risau.
Harap-harap ada yang bakal masuk penjara. pic.twitter.com/1G965Dp2UB
— Kafka Hibino  (@HazwanArif) April 1, 2025

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said victims of the gas pipeline fire will receive RM2,500 each while owners of the houses that were damaged by the fire will receive RM5,000.
Additionally, Bernama quoted Anwar who is also the Finance Minister as saying that the federal and state governments as well as PETRONAS will see to the repairs of the damaged homes.

- Focus Malaysia

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